Barcelona's race to lead European innovation

Innovation is not an option for Catalan companies and economy; it is a sine qua non condition for their growth. And the business fabric is aware of this reality: six out of ten Catalan companies promote measures to innovate in their products or processes, as reflected in the Innovation Barometer of the Generalitat's agency for business competitiveness, Acció.

"The performance of a company will come from its innovation; its growth, its internationalization, will come from innovation," defends Jordi Aguasca, CEO of Secartys and former Director of Innovation and Technological Transformation at Acció. But what is understood by innovation? "In the end, it is the improvement of a process, a service or a product that generates value, and that is sustainable over time." And introducing improvements is essential to remain competitive. "In a tremendously changing and tremendously competitive and increasingly unstable world, it is essential to have a value proposition that differentiates you." And that is achieved with innovation.

Thus, innovation can occur in various aspects of a company's reality. Product innovations are the most common among Catalan businesses (64%), along with improvements in information and communication systems (60%), according to the barometer. With 2024 data, companies that innovate in production processes (33%) and those that do so in marketing and sales (31%) also stand out.

Regardless of the area of the company in which improvements are applied, many come hand in hand with technology itself: artificial intelligence has landed in companies to optimize everything from production processes to customer relations, including the operation of factory machines. "AI, cybersecurity and also robotics will be three clear pillars of transformation of the industrial and business fabric of Catalonia," guarantees Aguasca. After spending 12 years at Acció ---as director of Startup Catalonia for seven years first, and then as director of Innovation and Technological Transformation for four more---, Aguasca now leads Secartys, which brings together companies, technology centers, administrations and entities to precisely promote competitive innovation.

This is where Industry 4.0 also comes in, with the integration of intelligent digital technologies into industrial and manufacturing processes. In fact, innovations in this line are steadily gaining ground in Catalonia: nearly 1,500 Catalan companies use Industry 4.0 tools, 30% more than in 2021, according to the study Industry 4.0 in Catalonia. Globally, the aggregated turnover of these companies is 7.2 billion euros, with more than 37,200 employees.

As a landing platform for this Industry 4.0, the Barcelona metropolis has a key player: the DFactory of the Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona (CZFB), which "has the strategic vision of leading the transformation of industry towards a digital industry, providing added value to the territory, with the generation of new jobs and the attraction and retention of talent," remarks the special delegate of the State to the CZFB, Pere Navarro. To propel this transformation, DFactory is immersed in an expansion that will see it grow from its current 17,000 square meters to 60,000 by the end of 2026. This expansion will configure the center into four buildings, which will be filled with both local projects and international initiatives. The CZFB is currently carrying out "an international task to attract this type of companies," as detailed by the consortium's general director, Blanca Sorigué, who highlights that "the 40 companies already installed in DFactory are growing at great speed, and are asking for more space." In this sense, as Navarro highlights, what articulates the center is "an ecosystem that generates opportunities, talent, connectivity with the city, with new projects and, ultimately, with innovation."

In the Champions League of innovation

So much so that the Regional Innovation Scoreboard 2025, prepared by the European Commission, places Catalunya as a Strong innovator, with an innovation index of 110 points, 10 above the European average. This positioning makes it the region with the best innovation performance at the state level, and one of the best located in Southern Europe. And projects are already underway that will make it climb positions, such as the one known as the Innovative Trident, a strategy that brings together three major initiatives in emerging technologies to boost European technological sovereignty: the Innofab, for the development and manufacturing of high-performance chips; the DARE, led by the BSC, and the PixEurope, coordinated by the ICFO.

However, despite these cutting-edge projects and institutions, there is still room for improvement in the transfer of this innovation to the business fabric. In this sense, the main barrier to promoting innovation within a company is not a lack of conviction, but rather financing: "If it is facilitated, companies are willing to innovate," Aguasca guarantees. And it is relevant data, especially in a business fabric where 95% of companies are micro-enterprises. The innovative capacity and ambition not only vary depending on the size of the company, but also on its age. In fact, business innovation is concentrated in younger companies —80% of companies less than nine years old innovated in 2024—, and decreases in more mature ones, falling to 64% in the case of companies over 50 years old.

Promoting innovation in this context is a necessity and "a great challenge", and must be approached from various angles, including "tax incentives, economic aid, public procurement or specific regulations" that favor innovation. "If we want to continue being a solid European region recognized for its level of innovation, it is essential to advance in these matters," Aguasca states. "On the one hand, we have the contrast of great technologies that are being developed in the field of technological innovation and, on the other, the ability of companies to incorporate this technology," he remarks.

Thus, the challenge is to match and synchronize technological innovation with the company's ability to adopt it. And on this path, another indispensable piece also comes into play: talent, the professionals who apply innovation within companies. With a consolidated university system and top-tier business schools, these institutions are key not only to train the professionals who will lead the advances, but they are also the birthplace of initiatives that transfer the knowledge generated in the university network to companies.

In this bridge between innovation and business, technology centers such as Eurecat and Leitat are also fundamental, offering their R&D services to transfer research advances to the productive sector. Beyond companies like these, where innovation is intrinsic, the issue is that the innovative drive extends to all types of companies, regardless of sector and size; from a multinational to an SME and local businesses, to build an economy that leads from innovation.